1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an endoscope, and in particular, to an endoscope which can be used in various manners, implement a high resolution, and perform a diagnosis without making a large incision on the human body, a hand piece of the endoscope, a calibration method therefor, and a method for using the same.
2. Related Art
An endoscope refers to a device which enables a user to observe various parts such as the alimentary canal, thoracic cavity, and joint of the human body with the naked eye, without making an incision. Among various endoscopes, only a device for observing an alimentary canal may be referred to as an endoscope. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, but all types of devices for observing the internal organs of the human body may be referred to as endoscopes. In particular, the present invention provides an endoscope which can be properly used for a part into which a needle is inserted. For example, the endoscope can be used in various parts such as the chest cavity, the abdominal cavity, a joint, the bladder, the spine, and the brain of the human body.
Although a conventional endoscope was developed to conduct a non-invasive treatment, a part of the endoscope, which is inserted into the human body, has a relatively large size. Due to such a problem, the endoscope may leave a large scar in the chest, abdomen, or joint of a patient, and cause pain. Furthermore, when the endoscope is inserted into the alimentary canal, the endoscope may cause the patient pain. Due to such a problem, although the endoscope was aimed at non-invasive treatment, an endoscope treatment is performed after the patent is induced to sleep.
Considering such a problem, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0080940 has disclosed a scanner-free single fiber micro-endoscope and an imaging method using the same. Since the endoscope is implemented only with a piece of optical fiber, a patient can receive an endoscope treatment without a pain.
According to the related art, the scanner-free single fiber micro-endoscope employs a sample beam and a reference beam, and acquires an interference image of the sample beam and the reference beam. When the image is acquired, a first distortion of the image occurs due to the optical fiber while light propagates to an object plane (OP) from an image plane (IP), and a second distortion of the image occurs while the light returns to the IP from the OP. The related art provides a method for acquiring a high-quality image by overcoming the distortions. Between the above-described distortions, the first distortion may be removed through a process of adding up a plurality of repeated images, and the second distortion may be removed through a process of obtaining a transmission matrix by passing light at various angles and recovering a distorted image through the transmission matrix.
In the technology according to the related art, however, when the path length and shape of the optical fiber from the IP to the OP are changed, the previous transmission matrix cannot be applied. Thus, the image cannot be recovered. In other words, when the endoscope inserted into the human body is bent to observe a diseased part, the transmission matrix of the optical fiber may be changed by the deformation of the endoscope, and the image cannot be recovered. Thus, the endoscope could not be applied for the use of an endoscope. Furthermore, since an area from which an image can be obtained is limited to a small range, there are difficulties in applying the endoscope to a wide range.